Rod
Length · Also called: pole, perch, lug
That is
5.029 m
1 rod (statute)
The other way round: 1 km is 198.8388 rods.
- Period: c. 1300 to today as an archaic unit
- Region: England
- Goods: land survey, allotments
Values
| Value | That is | Period | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| statute | 5.029 m | c. 1300 to today as an archaic unit | land survey, allotments · England |
| Irish (plantation) | 6.401 m | 16th century to the 19th | land · Ireland |
| local perchesPerches of 15, 15½, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 and 24½ feet are all documented. Six different perches were listed on the Bishop of Ely’s manors in one survey of 1251. | 4.57–7.77 m | c. 1150 to 1350 and later | English manors |
What the unit was used for
One unit with three names, rod, pole and perch, all meaning the same 5½ yards.
It is the pivot of the English land system, because the acre is defined as 4 perches by 40 and everything else follows from that.
Edward I’s statute put it plainly: five yards and a half make a perch, and 40 perches in length by 4 in breadth make an acre.
In practice the statute perch was one option among many, and manorial surveys record royal and king’s perches of 24½, 21 and 20 feet beside local ones of 15 to 18 feet.
The rod is still the measure of a British allotment, which is traditionally ten square rods.
In the system
1 rod = 5½ yards = 16½ feet; 4 rods = 1 chain; 40 rods = 1 furlong